EPT Paris: Strategy tips for Day 1 at an EPT Main Event

February 23, 2026

Features

by Howard Swains

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3 Minute Read

It’s Day 1A of the first European Poker Tour (EPT) Main Event of 2026. And for many players in the field, it will be their ever experience of an event like this. Over the years, we’ve quizzed a few seasoned professionals to get some advice and strategy tip for newcomers to major tournament poker, and their words remain as true now as they ever were.

Parker Talbot, perhaps better known as “tonkaaaa”, offered some very valuable advice to EPT newcomers approaching their first ever EPT. And even if it’s not your first, this may well be of great benefit still.

So, is tight right? Should you steer clear of the big names? What’s the best strategy on a Day 1? Over to you, tonkaaaa.

PLAY YOUR GAME

Just do your thing. Whatever makes you comfortable. Play your game.

I wouldn’t say ‘sit with your legs crossed’ or ‘sit a certain way’, just be yourself and realise that everyone is in the same situation as you. Everyone’s playing the same game. Try your best to be as comfortable as you can.

My first ever EPT was EPT Berlin in 2012. I brought headphones and a book and I read my book all day long. I was your stereotypical 20-year-old internet kid. I was like “Screw this, live poker! I’m just going to read my book and ignore everyone”.

But then I did OK and made Day 3 and had a really good time.

LEARN SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR OPPONENTS

If you find your table draw (on the Staruniv Live app) you can search for the players and you’ll probably find out some info, about whether they play a lot of poker or not. You can Google people, that’s the easiest way.

I wouldn’t read too much into stereotypes based on how people look but, at the same time, they are there.

You can’t really avoid playing the tough players. That’s just not really how poker works. You can dodge a little bit to a certain extent. Like, maybe you can out the bottom five percent of hands that you’d normally play against someone else and cut them when playing against a very tough opponent, but for the most part, you’ve just got to battle and that’s the beauty of poker.

It’s worth getting to know something about your opponents

DON’T PLAY SCARED

If you only play X amount of poker tournaments a week, you want to make it last, right? So naturally, you think you’re going to play tighter.

Maybe that will help you last an hour longer, but in the short term, you’re going to run deeper way less often because of that. Playing too tight is definitely one of the biggest shortcomings of newer players.

That’s a big issue for weaker players across all games, all stakes, and all tournaments, to be honest.

AGGRESSION IS UNPREDICTABLE

I’ve always said it’s so much better to be an aggressive recreational than it is to be a tight recreational. It’s really infinitely better. If you’re a tight recreational, your chances of winning the tournament aren’t zero but they’re incredibly low. Whereas if you’re an aggressive recreational, you can run up stacks.

You might only play for four hours on Day 1 and then bust, whereas a tighter player might make it to Day 2 and play for a couple of extra hours. It’s different strokes for different folks.

But there’s an age-old saying for aggressive recreationals: people never know what you’re doing. That really can come into play and you can get paid off in big spots because of that.

If you’re a recreational and just playing for fun, my advice is always to just get in there and mix it up, fight, battle, and don’t be afraid to bluff.